


nothing like flight at all

by Aja



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spy, M/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-08
Updated: 2009-03-08
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:26:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aja/pseuds/Aja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin/James Bradley, for lizardspot's <a href="http://lizardspots.livejournal.com/278950.html">incredible Bond AU.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	nothing like flight at all

**Author's Note:**

> Look I tried for 30 minutes to whittle this down to the comment limit and still failed, so loftily is making me post it here. Oh, and she also beta'd it, so this is all her fault. Or longleggedgit's fault. Or lizardspots*'s fault. Look the point is, it's not _my_ fault.

"No," Merlin said through clenched teeth. "NO."  
  
Bradley's brows knitted together, which wasn't attractive at all, not at all, not ever and  _certainly_  not when they were moments away from being sliced up by two knife-wielding ninja assassins. "We don't have time for this," he said, gripping the cable.  
  
"We can't." Merlin stepped back. "It won't hold us both. Go. I'll stay here and hold them off as long as I can."  
  
"And by 'hold them off' you mean, what, dazzling them to death with your smile?" Bradley had the most annoying habit of  _drawling_  smugly at him, like they had  _time_  for his slow-paced insults, please. "Come  _on_ , Merlin, your magic can't weigh you down that much."   
  
And then, just as the two girls - he'd privately started calling them Cirque du Fillet - rounded the corner, Bradley pulled Merlin close and snapped the hook between them before Merlin had time to do more than let out a shocked breath at the contact, the closeness and warmth all the way down to his thigh holster - and they were up, straight up, into the air and over Camelot.  
  
He yelped and hung on. "James Bradley, you're the most -" he didn't have  _words_  for what James Bradley was. He huffed and sent a stream of (distracted) fire down upon the girls. The brunette was attempting to scale the wall with her knife between her  _teeth_ , christ, why even bother with magic when you were fighting bloody  _superheroes_ ? His palms tingled with energy, and Merlin focused on the sting, not on the fact that Castle Tower had 82 stories and they were aiming for the last one.  
  
Bradley sent him a smile that made Merlin want to brain him with his Glock, and calmly undid his gun from his holster. "Be a good sport, Emrys, we're already - right, well, we're already an eighth of the way up."  
  
"I am never working with you again," Merlin said. His teeth were  _not_  chattering, really, this was just ridiculous.  
  
"Don't you want to at least make it to the top before you go making rash decisions?" Bradley said, and really he was insufferable, trying to seduce Merlin while  _scaling a skyscraper_ . Merlin made the mistake of looking down - oh, god,  _down_  was very, very down - and frantically back up, anchoring onto Bradley's face. Bradley's eyes locked onto his. Merlin felt a rush that had nothing to do with the height.   
  
"Why, what happens when we get to the top?" he blurted.  
  
Bradley shifted, and suddenly he was closer, clutching onto Merlin just a bit tighter. His arms around Merlin felt warm, secure, nothing like flight at all.  
  
"When we get to the top, I'll tell you my real name," he said with a wink.  
  
"Oh,  _really_ ," Merlin said, trying not to grin stupidly. "Fantastic. Is that your way of making some kind of commitment?"  
  
"Please, Merlin, like I'd commit to your endangering my life every thirty seconds and magicking my suits into disarray," said Bradley. The grin got harder to hold back. "Not to mention that time with the dragon, and I won't even go into that thing with the Porsche and the dalmatian- "  
  
"Right," said Merlin, and there it was, strong and irrepressible. "The great James Bradley, always works alone." They were suddenly very close together, so close Merlin could feel the wind sliding through right between them.   
  
"Precisely," said Bradley, and they were 40 stories up when Merlin leaned in and kissed him, knowing he could let go of the rope and still be this high off the ground.  
  
"I'm not kidding about my real name," Bradley said some ten stories later (give or take). "I might even let you make fun of it once or twice before I shoot you."  
  
"In that case you might want to tell me before we reach the top," Merlin said.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Just that the one with the curls is already waiting for us."  
  
Bradley looked up and made a ludicrous face. "Jesus, how- are they aliens?" He glared at Merlin, lips still red and wet, and- right, focus, Merlin thought dazedly. "I was not debriefed for aliens, Emrys."  
  
"She's got a really big gun," Merlin noted. "I'd think that aliens would have more, uh, appendages."  
  
They looked up. The curly-haired ninja/acrobat/tentacle-less killer waved at them cheerfully with her gun hand.  
  
"Right, then. It's Pendragon," said Bradley.  
  
Merlin blinked. "What?"  
  
Bradley rolled his eyes. "It's  _Pendragon_ ," he said. After a clueless beat- "My  _name_ , freak. Arthur Pendragon."  
  
Merlin let out a giggle. Bradl- Pendra-  _Arthur_  narrowed his eyes. "You did say I could mock you," Merlin reminded him.  
  
"Yes, well, better do it quick," Arthur said, nudging Merlin's holster lightly with his knee. "We'll probably die in a few seconds."  
  
"I can think of better ways to spend them," Merlin whispered. Arthur's expression shifted into something not very spy-like at all, and he skated his fingers gently over Merlin's cheek. Merlin felt the moment sing through him, a shiver of promise, and screw it - they weren't dying today.  
  
He tilted his head back, leaned in, and felt himself falling straight up - into Arthur's kiss and the clear night sky.


End file.
